Aeroplane



E. H. LANIER AEROPLANE Aug. 11, 1925.

Filed Nov! 25. 1923- Patented Aug( 11, l925.` i

NITED` STA-TES PATENT OFFICE.`

EDWARD H. LANIER, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.

AEROPLANE.

Application filed November 23, 1923. Serial No. &76,657.

To allwlomz'tmay conce'm: Figure 1 is a side elevatio'n of an aero- Beit known that I, EDWARD H. LANIER, plane, somewhat diagramnatically shown. a citizen of the United States, and a. resi- Figure is a transverse section of my dent of Newport, in the County of. Campbell improved aerofoil, with the angle of inci- V b and State of Kentucky, have invented cerdence vane closed.

tain new and useful Inprovenents in Aerohigure 3' isa similar" section with the planes, of which the following is a full, vane open. v clear, and exact description, reference being i Figure 4 is a similar View' of a modified had to the accom-panying drawings, forming Construction .of aerofoil designed -for a rac- 10 part of this specification. ing plane, and r My improvements relate to Construction F igure 5is a perspective view of one of 'of cambered aerofoils for aeroplanes and the the' aerofoils. object is to provide for changing at will "iThe Construction of the aerofoil is of the the angle of incidence of the aerofoil so that usual cambered type, with ribs 1, a front. M lift ot' the mac-hine may be greatly increased spa i 2 and a rear spam" 3, with a leading 7 'when rising -from theground or ,'alighting. edge 4, and trailing edge 5, the structure Canbered aerofoils as ordinarily concovered with varnished linen or other suitstructed are rigid *and to a great extent able materiaL' infiexibl 'and in designing the aerofoil Inmediately to the rear of 'the leading 2 a much greater angle of incidence is usiedge, I provide a.long`slot or passage way 'I ally rovided" foithe slow moving planes 6, through the aerofoil-from the upper surthan -for racing planes. By angle'of'inciface running back in aii almost horizontal dence I refer to, the angle fol-med between direction opening through the undersu'face a horizontal line and a-line drawn through 'of' the aerofoil. The front opening of this 2 the aerofoil. v is hinged to open forwardly on a. substantial Heretofore after the plane is built there cross brace 'of the fi'ame, As there is great has been no provision fior combining 'an sti-aim` on this vane when open, I provide auxiliary vane of variable angleof incidence a number of hinges 8, and also a series of with' a fixed 'aerofoil so that, as a result back braces 9 for the vane which bear 35 a slow moving'. Construction, no matter how against the ribs of the aerofoil when the powerful the motor. can never be propelled vane is opened. `This vane is provided with beyond a certain speed, while withthe racing a top surface to register with the top surplanes with; a fixed aerofoil the angle of face of the aerofoilwhen the vane is closed,`

the leading edge and the trailing edge of ,passage-way is controlled by a vane 7 which 30' incidence is so slight, that it requires a and a depresioniO is formed to permit the very long distance and very 'high speed bevane to close down flush; The vane is profore the machine can be raised from the vided with an arm for opening and closing ground, and for the same reason a very which is actuated bywires running to a. conlarge landing field is required to permit'the trol lever within convenient access to the 40 'machine-to land, driver. u .v i I Itjs the object of 'my in'vention, therefore, The aerofoil is designed to be mounted i to provide 'an uxiliary vane cooperating `without'any or'with a`ve'y slight angleof with the trailing edge of an aerofoil for incidence` for the leading and trailing edge., changing the angleof incidence of the trailand the angle 'of incidence from 'theront 45 ing edge -aerofoil, and this I attain by that' edge of the vane to the trailing edge should' 1 certain novel constructi'on and arrangement be from 8 degrees to 10 degrees for safe of parts to be-hereinafter particularly point: flying. When an aeroplane with such aeroed out and claimed, in which I provide vanes' foils is'- being driven through the ar at the a short distance inside the leading edge of height desired with' the vanes closed, there .the aerofoils, which are hingedfso that the'yis no angle of incidence and maxiinum'speed !05 can be opened or closed under control of canbe attained withoutany undesirable liftthe op rator and thue' may automatically im t V vary the angle of the trailing edge of the' For rising fromfithe ground the operator aerofoil in its passage through the air. opens the vane and the lifting power of In the drawingszthe aerofoil is then obtained `by the area thus section.

the aerofoil.

of reduced pressure ,on topof the aerofoil from the leading edge of the' vane as indicated at 12 assisted by the 'positive pressure v of the current against the 'undersurface of A plane equip-ped withsuch aerofols will the same'way it can be landed in a comparatively short distance. There have been developed a great variety of designs for aerofoils and I have shown in Figure 4 a design for high speed, almost flat in cross With this flat racing form 14, the vane 7 gives an angle'of incidence permitting the plane to be lifted from the ground in a much shorter space and a very much less speed than without the vane. i

It. will be understood that I do not wish to limit my invention, however, to any particu lar design of aerofoil as it will be found of great advantage for any form of Construcin Figure 1 with fuselage 16, landing gear tion, nor to any Construction of aeroplane all of which require wings or ae'rofoils.

I have made no attempt to show the va- .rious necessary parts of an aeroplane other than in a verydiagrammatic form as shown 17, propeller 18, rudder 19, stabilizer 20, monoplane 21 and ailerons 22.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new anddesire to 'secure byLetters Patent, is 2-- 1. An aerofoil for aeroplanes having a rise easily in a short distance and in,

leading and a trailing edge and provided with an elongated passageway from the upper surface' of the -aerofoil to the `underof the leading edge extending towards the I trailing edge, of a vane hinged at the` rear edge of the front opening to close the opening and means for opening said vane to present an additional leading edge with an increased angle of incidence to provide additional lift of the aerofoil.

3. In a cambered aerofoil for ae'oplanes having an the leading edge extending towards the trailing edge, of a vanehnged at the rear edge of the front opening-to close the opening and means for opening said vane to present an additional leading edge with an increased angle of incidence to provide ad:

ditional. lift of the aerofoil, with braces to hold the vane when opened in position against the increased air pressure.

' `EDWARD H. LANIER;

elongated' passageway from the upper-surface of the aerofoil at the rear of 

